Small Beginnings, Long Journey #001

My Startup Journey

Today, I want to share my story. While my writing may be lacking, I'll continue to give my best effort going forward :)

The Beginning of My Project

I was just an ordinary student living in South Korea. I'm still a student with dreams, even now.

My dream is to create a second world. Some might call it unrealistic or impossible, but that's what my dream is. Perhaps someday, there will come a day when AI and humans laugh together in the metaverse without distinction. The modern conveniences we enjoy today were once considered impossible in the past. But there are people who make it happen, and I want to be one of them.

This is how I naturally found myself drawn into the startup world. In a past that I can't quite understand now, I proudly wrote "scientist" as my future career aspiration. However, experiencing cold reality taught me that my small strength alone wouldn't be nearly enough to achieve my dreams.

In other words, to realize my dreams, I stepped into that heavy and unfamiliar place—the path of being a CEO.

My First Startup

In my first year of high school, when I should have been bright and focused on studying, I went to the tax office to register a business. With my business registration in hand, I jumped into the trendy Coupang and Naver Smart Store business.

And I tasted bitter failure. (I regretted not studying for a whole year afterward.)

The causes of failure were numerous: failed cost calculations, complaint management during capital-free operations, failed exposure management, and more. I was inexperienced at the time, like a country bumpkin who had just arrived in the city without proper learning.

Completing each task one by one—registering the business, setting up the store, listing products—was fun at first. But before I knew it, under a cold heart, it became unenjoyable, unprofitable, and I almost signed up for various paid services, chasing the distant dream of top search rankings.

And I learned something profound. Having the qualification of being "official" and becoming part of society means throwing away the protection of being a student and facing the world directly. It was a small but significant realization. I also learned that products are my mirror, and if the creator/seller isn't enjoying it, it's just mass-produced mediocrity.

My Second Startup

The next startup took quite a while because I started studying again. After the first failure where I spent a long time without any results, I returned to my student duties—studying—for quite an extended period.

Fortunately, after much time, I was able to make up for the lost time and even got into university.

This time, when I started another business, it became a tech startup. This was because, thanks to respected professors, I learned what tech startups were about and what intellectual property meant.

A tech startup, while having various definitions, I've redefined as "a method of starting a business using proprietary or unique technology to reduce failure probability and achieve something closer to a true startup."

In this startup, I gained team members. Although the business support conditions were challenging, I convinced seniors and peers to submit my vision to the entrepreneurship support project run by the school. While it seems small and modest now, I was very satisfied at the time (I still think being satisfied might be enough).

I once read in a book: "Those who dream will eventually find themselves surrounded by people who share the same dreams." And that's exactly what happened.

What started as a small vision grew as I went around and around, explaining to find the people we needed. I found people who resonated with my ideas and vision. That's why I couldn't give up.

Once again, I entered the path of an entrepreneur. The professors supporting our startup saw our bold challenge and smiled gently, saying, "Don't give up. If you don't give up, you'll become something." This memory remains vivid even now.

We began developing with the concept of "AI Streamer" based on AI, using AI Cloud ideas and technology. Looking back, it was crude, but a few months later, using LLM technology (the foundation of ChatGPT/Transformer), we had a character that actually responded. The character rendered using Live2D and Unity emerged within the code made of 0s and 1s, running on GPU.

Throughout this process, we had the assistance and support of many professors. The Computer Engineering professor helped us interact with real people through the real world (0-dimension) and Raspberry Pi, LattePanda (Alpha), and MPU-6050 (gyro/accelerometer sensor). My advisor helped with the AI model aspects, and the entrepreneurship support professor helped us access government startup support and various projects.

Additionally, the patent professor taught us how to protect our technology from infringement, the big data professor helped with necessary data collection and processing, and the literature professor assisted with character personality development.

Under the professors' guidance, we participated in the Gyeonggi Province University Student Tech Startup Competition. While preparing for the competition, we had many discussions. However, intensive preparation in a short time coincided with university exam period, which might have determined our lives.

It was a serious problem. Many team members left during this period, and conflicts arose. Small but definite cracks were forming in the team, like the Titanic.

Small disputes escalated into arguments, and as the representative, I failed to control the situation, only making timid responses. Even now, thinking back, saying I was in panic is just an excuse—I don't know why I acted that way.

Fortunately, when I came to my senses and reformed the team to keep only those who truly supported the team and shared the vision, the team stabilized again. I was scared—scared of growing distant from people who had been team members, scared of being abandoned by those who had trusted me.

Very fortunately, the team functioned normally, and finally, the presentation day approached. For us, who had passed the preliminaries, it was the final awards ceremony and presentation.

Of course, time was tight, so we submitted only a demo (looking back, if we had cut back on leisure time a bit more and worked until dawn, wouldn't it have been possible?).

Then, the night before the momentous presentation day, I faced a crossroads between two choices: the company presentation and university exams. I chose the university exams. Excuses are endless, but the course I had put the most effort into happened to be on Friday evening.

As a result, the team members presented without their representative, and I felt it deeply. If I had given up the university exam, I would have stood in that position. I wanted to stand in that brightly shining place too.

Filling the empty heart was piercing regret and disappointment. And I came to realize:

"From now on, I really need to try everything. If time is tight, I'll make time, and I must remember this regret endlessly." These words I shouted came back like a boomerang and lodged in my heart.

Actually, the story of my second startup ends here. I think I gained the realization that I must try everything and learned how to communicate with people.

I realized that Steve Jobs' and Elon Musk's styles of managing employees were clearly different from mine. I also learned that imitating cannot make you the real thing you're copying.

The current me tries to be a bit softer, warmer, treating colleagues not as rigid associates but as individuals, as I learned from my second startup. Though I don't have employees yet.

My Third Startup

My third startup is currently ongoing, and it's also the reason I decided to write this piece. I wanted to share my experiences and show my vision to the world.

This current business is being pursued with my parents. Since the business hasn't launched yet, I can't reveal details, but I feel that I've advanced significantly technically this time.

Because it's pioneering a new field by my standards—it's effort and joy. I've decided to enjoy it. When I do what I love, my heart races and I feel alive. That's why—there's no other reason. Researching, developing, presenting visions, and receiving acclaim is so enjoyable, almost addictive.

There were times when I thought self-help books were wrong, and times when I believed in them blindly. I wonder if people who walked similar paths to mine felt these same feelings.

Writer

Mirseo | Developer & Philosopher

Exploring the intersection of technology and philosophy to understand our world.

GitHub: @mirseo | Blog: https://blog.mirseo.dev

Writer Text

Originally written by JunHyeok-Seo(Mirseo) in Korean, translated and adapted

Korean version available at mirseo.dev/biz.mirseo.dev

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#StartupJourney #YoungEntrepreneur #TechStartup #EntrepreneurshipStory #StudentEntrepreneur #StartupFailure #AIStartup #KoreanStartup #EntrepreneurLife #StartupLessons #BusinessStory #Innovation #TechInnovation #StartupCulture #EntrepreneurMindset

#StartupJourney #YoungEntrepreneur #TechStartup #StartupFailure #AIStartup #EntrepreneurLife #Innovation

#StartupJourney #YoungEntrepreneur #TechStartup #StartupStory #Innovation